McIntosh healthy, answers challenge

It was back to business for Calvary Chapel 189-pound wrestler Morgan McIntosh on Saturday at SoCal Challenge at Godinez High.

McIntosh, the defending state champion at 171 pounds, made his season debut, and picked up where he left off, dominating his weight class.

McIntosh was out after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He had the surgery in July.

"It feels good to compete again," he said. "I feel good. I just wanted to wrestle. It was my goal to pin everyone in the tournament."

McIntosh did just that, recording all five victories by pin to win his weight class in the two-day tournament.

He ended the tournament with a pin over Shaun Felix of Capistrano Valley.

"He did a good job," Calvary Chapel coach Arsen Aleksanyan said of McIntosh. "First time back and it was a great way to start the season for him."

McIntosh's teammates Gavin McDonald (103), William "Tank" Knowles (215) and Mike Manighalam (285) also won individual titles.

Knowles recorded three pins, a technical fall and a major decision on his road to the title.

Calvary Chapel finished second to Santa Ana for the team title.

The Saints recorded 233.5 points and had a pair of individual champions, Sammy Cano at 112 pounds and Richard Vargas at 119.

Cano pinned Andrew Mestas in the first period. Vargas pulled out a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Peter Palacios of Calvary Chapel in his finals match.

Irvine and Fountain Valley finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Santa Margarita and Tesoro were ninth and 10th.

Walker Slaughter (Irvine, 140) and Damon Couch (Santa Margarita, 152) earned Lower and Upper Weight MVP honors, respectively.

Both wrestlers recorded five first-period pins.

Other county champions include Cameron Carlberg (Santa Margarita, 125), Alec Robbie (Tesoro, 135), Victor Diaz (Edison, 145) and Sean Datte (Tesoro, 171).

Datte and Robbie pinned four of their five opponents.

At the Super Champs Tournament:

Laguna Hills dominated the tournament recording 326.5 points with 13 individual medalists.

Juan Jaime (125), Bobby Morales (130), James Shoop (215) and Noel Molina (285) won individual titles.

The Hawks had 13 of the 14 place in the top six of their weight classes.